Air
by F6F Freak
Summary: USAF First Lieutenant Curt Lane thinks he's returning from a dangerous mission, but instead finds himself in an unfamiliar world full of people capable of manipulating elements. He even discovers himself capable of this.


_If you've read my work before, our protagonist should be familiar territory to you. If not, it doesn't matter; the two stories aren't at all related. Here, we see what happens had the event sending General Lane into another world had happened 25 years earlier to a First Lieutenant Lane.  
I'm really busy these days, college-level calculus isn't exactly easy. I don't prioritize fanfiction as I'm working on other works that I'm actually making money off of. I intend to publish a second chapter, however. Useful, well-rounded feedback (for the record, I haven't proofread, so excuse the errors this is certain to contain) will make me more likely to publish sooner, for the record.  
Enjoy._

* * *

United States Air Force First Lieutenant Curtis Joseph Lane checked over his weapons a second time. His compact M6A3 long gun, currently in 5.56x45mm mode, was safed, no rounds were in the chamber, and the microreactor was in controlled state. He had a second 5.56x45mm reactor cartridge on his belt, along with three .50 cal reactor cartridges and the barrel to match. His sidearm, a 9mm Beretta M9, was safed and holstered. Everything was in place on his utility belt. His small combat pack contained water and emergency food for him should he be stranded, along with medical supplies for the downed pilot in the Iranian desert.

His team was small, consisting of him and two of his closest men, Sargent Lowell and Second Lieutenant Caldwell. The portal in front of them was stabilizing. The coils of heavy metals that facilitated the spatial distortion went from glowing red to glowing blue, the thick cloud of blue at the end of the tunnel condensing into a water-like surface.

"Alright, fellas, we've got an F-22 pilot down near an Iranian village, he is under heavy fire and wounded. We're going to get in, grab him and get out," Curt said, "Go!"

They ran down the plank, into the portal. The instant Curt crossed the event horizon, he was strangled by the sheer heat, blinded by the brightness, deafened by the sound of enemy fire. He dove for the nearest cover he could find, a piece of the destroyed F-22. AK-47 rounds impacted off the other side of the metal. He fired back with a burst of controlled fire, searched for the pilot. He was taking shelter behind a piece of the cockpit, busily banging away at the Iranians with his sidearm.

Curt rushed to his side.

"Where you hurt?" Curt yelled over the din of the battle.

"Side. Bleeding pretty bad. I've done what I can to staunch it."

"Take my gun, I'll see what I can do."

The pilot had wrapped gauze over the wound multiple times, but it was still bleeding badly. It appeared to be shrapnel. There wasn't much Curt could do but get the pilot out and back to a hospital on base.

"We're just going to have to get out. Can you walk?"

"Yeah."

"Then go!" Curt yelled, taking his gun back from the pilot and waving him toward the portal. Caldwell, Lowell, let's go!" They moved back slowly, crouched, firing, covering their retreat through the portal. The pilot was long through by the time Lowell went through, who was quickly followed by Caldwell. Curt was right behind them. He took a hit in the left leg right as he was about to cross through. He fell through the other side of the portal, hit the ground hard. Contrary to his expectations of the hard steel plank, he landed on some kind of rock; a paved surface.

It was bright; he was faced with a clear sky, not the cold grey concrete of Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Something had gone badly wrong. He wasn't supposed to be here. He looked around. Were Caldwell and Lowell here? The pilot? No. Rather, there were large, tall buildings that rather resembled Buddhist temples. Curt rolled behind a low stone wall, a bit of cover, just in case. He applied quickstop beads to the leg wound, which was very close to an artery, put gauze over it. It was the best he could do for now.

He was starting to feel faint, though. It wasn't a sudden onset, but slowly, gradually. Was he losing that much blood? His vision began to black. Not that much blood... No, this was... This... Differ...

* * *

Tenzin, on a normal daily walk, saw a man, clothed in some strange tan, patterned clothing, against one of the low courtyard wall, nodding in and out of consciousness. He ran over, examined him. He had a small wound, a deep puncture, in one of his legs, bleeding lightly. Why was he passed out? Didn't matter. Was there a healer nearby? Korra. She had learned from Katara herself.

"Korra! Korra!" He called, quite loudly.

Apparently not being far away, Korra came running.

"Who is he? What's wrong with him?"

"I know the answer to neither of your questions, just heal him."

"Okay," she said, drawing water out of a nearby fountain, wrapping her hands in it., putting them to him. "That's... That's impossible..." She said.

"What?"

"He has no chi in him whatsoever." she examined him, pointed to a patch on his shirt. On it were large black characters in another, very foreign, language. "It says "Air," Tenzin, you've got to give him some of your chi. Let him start to make his own.

"That doesn't say 'air,' Korra," Tenzin said.

She looked at it harder, in disbelief, "Doesn't matter, he needs chi, and you have the most here."

"Very well," He said, put his hands to the man's chest. Slowly let his chi flow. The man's body seemed to absorb the energy, like a sponge that had been dry for years finally getting water.

* * *

Curt slowly saw a white ceiling fade into view above him. He was no longer in his ABU, but simple white robes. His leg wound, upon close inspection, had healed entirely. Barely even a visible scar. _How long have I been out?_

A young girl, wearing orange and red robes, with black hair pulled up into two small balls above her head, walked in.

"Oh, you're up! Where are you from? What's your name? How old are you? Are you alright? How did you get he..." She was speaking in a rapidfire Korean dialect. Fortunately, Curt knew Korean from the time he'd served there.

"Hold on, little miss, one question at a time," Curt interrupted in the best Korean he could manage. "My name is Curt Lane. I'm from The United States of America. I'm a First Lieutenant of the Air Force. I can't tell you how I got here because I'm not too sure myself."

"You forgot how old you were."

Curt chuckled, "37. Your father, or anyone older, around?"

"Yes, you can speak to Tenzin, or mabye Korra, she's the Avatar, you know, maybe..."

"Whoever you come to first will do quite nicely."

"Okay," she said, and ran out.

"Well, that was odd," Curt muttered in English. Well, if he was in Korea, it made good sense that he was in a Buddhist Temple, at any rate. The portal malfunctioning and throwing him to Korea instead of Cheyenne wasn't that far fetched. Of course, for all he knew, he could have been on another planet or in another universe. But that _was_ pretty far fetched.

A tall, slender man, also in the simple, orange and red robes, with a bald head and a blue tattoo of an arrow on it, walked in. Behind him was a black-haired, muscular dark-skinned girl wearing a somewhat tight-fitting blue shirt with a coat tied around her waist. The little girl squeezed between them, saying in that same rapidfire Korean, "I couldn't decide which to get, so I just got them both."

Curt laughed, "That works just nicely, young lady, thank you." He made a small bow to her with hands in loose adjacent fists. That was Korean custom.

"I take it you're Mr. Lane?" the man said in a clear, slow Korean baritone.

"Yes, that would be I," Curt said, standing up from the corner of the small bed. "You are?"

"I am Tenzin. I'm the Air Master at this temple."

Curt bowed deeper. He didn't know what an Air Master was, but he guessed it was important - or he was mistranslating.

He looked to the girl, who looked to be in her teens, "You?"

"I'm Korra, the Avatar."

Curt recognized the word from Korean online games. He didn't know what it meant as a title. He bowed about the same as he had for the Air Master. "If you can contact the nearest U.S. military base, I'll get out of your hair," Curt said, ignoring the fact that the Air Master was bald. "Thank you for taking care of me."

"U.S. Military base... I don't follow," the Air Master said.

Curt looked at him confusedly. "Where am I?"

"Air Temple Island, in Republic City."

"That's not good," Curt mumbled. He didn't know a lot, but he knew that that wasn't anywhere in Korea.

All three looked at him confusedly. "What's wrong?" the Avatar asked.

"I have no idea where that is. Do you know where the US is?"

"No."

"Korea?"

"No."

"_Verdammt."_

They all looked at him in confusion.

"It's another language where I came from. Don't worry about it. I don't know where I am."

"We just told you."

"No, I still don't know. I'm not from this world, apparently."

"How did you get here?" The Air Master asked.

"That would be classified, Air Master."

They looked at him strangely. "First, call me Tenzin, please. Second, I can offer you to stay here until you get your bearings, figure out how to get back."

Curt bowed very low, "Thank you, Tenzin." He paused. "So, I have to ask, how long have I been out?"

"'Couple of days," the Avatar offered. "Took your body time to start producing Chi of its own. I've managed to heal that leg wound in the meantime."

"Chi?" Curt asked with a motion asking for more information.

"Your body's energy? The source of bending?"

Curt shook his head. "What's bending?"

They all looked at each other in pure shock. Curt gave them time to pick their jaws off the floor.

"He's not kidding," the Avatar said, "He doesn't know, does he?"

Curt shook his head.

"You'll learn soon enough," Tenzin said. "Seeing as you now have air chi in you, you may be able to airbend."

Curt cocked his head. "Well, then, I guess I'll find out. Where are my clothes, my equipment?"

The small girl spoke up. "They're in the wardrobe. You have such strange clothes, and some neat stuff, geez, what what was all that stuff?"

"Ikki, be quiet now," Tenzin said.

"Okay, daddy, I guess I'll go clean or practice or something," she said, hanging her head and walking out in disdain.

"We'll get out of your way, too, while you settle down," the Avatar said, and she and Tenzin began to walk out.

"Oh! Avatar," Curt said, "Thank you."

She smiled pleasantly back, "Please, call me Korra, and you're welcome." They stepped out.

Curt found his ABU, folded neatly. The pants had been cleaned and mended; a neat, concise line of stitches in the bullet's exit and entry points. With an examination of what had caused the wound, Curt figured that 'bending' must have somehow been used to speed the healing process if he'd only been out for a few days.

He closed the door, changed into his ABU pants, putting on his tan fatigue shirt and foregoing his ABU jacket. The garments were more comfortable and familiar than the loose robes that most of the area's occupants seemed to prefer. He found that his Camelback pack, utility belt, pistol, Dragonskin bulletproof vest, and his long gun were in the drawers below the wardrobe. He safed the long gun, which was still ready to fire, compressed the stock and pushed the round in the chamber back into the cartridge, letting the holographics convert it back into energy. Someone had finally figured out how to make Einstein's equation work, and, when they had, its use had exploded. A microreactor in the clip produced enough energy to make anywhere from hundreds to millions of cartridges, depending on their size. Curt's phone used holographics, too, and he had several holo disks that could produce anything from a guitar to an RPG.

He placed everything back where he'd found it, as it had been nicely organized. Had the Avatar _(Korra, Curt, _he reminded himself) organized it? He'd figure it out later. He turned to open the room's sliding door and found a young girl, a bit older than the fast talking one, who also had her black hair pulled up into small spherical bundles. She was dressed in those yellow and orange robes as well.

"You are?"

"Jinora. I'm Tenzin's oldest. Ikki, the one who talks a lot, is my little sister."

"Ah. I like you better already. I can actually understand you," he chuckled.

"Hearing problems?" was it just him, or did she speak up when she asked that?

"No," Curt said, shaking his head ruefully, "I don't speak your language natively."

"What other language is there?" she asked confusedly. "The language of the spirits?"

"No, it's called English. It's from the world where I come from. I know four others, Russian, German, and a dialect of your language. We call it Korean."

"You must be really smart."

"I like to think so, anyhow," he chuckled.

"Do you like to read?"

"I do, as a matter of fact."

"Can I read any books from your world?"

"Yeah, let me see if I can find you one."

He walked back into the room, opened a drawer, pulling out his USAF-issue phone. He clicked the unlock button and sat it on a flat desk. A large holographic display appeared above it, much like an old computer monitor. He tapped a button in the upper right-hand corner. "VARA, what all books do you have in your memory?" VARA, fortunately, knew Korean.

VARA's (almost unrecognizably) synthesized feminine voice responded "I have several thousand. What kind of book are you looking for?"

"Jinora?"

"I don't know. I like romance," she responded shyly and confusedly. She didn't know what kind of contraption sat on the desk, it seemed. A demon? A person trapped in this box?

"A new user. Pleasure to meet you, Jinora. I am VARA, Voice Activation/Recognition Assistant. I am not alive, not even real. I am a computer, here to assist you in any way I can."

She seemed assured by this. "Okay, well, what all romance do you have?"

"Not many. Curt doesn't favor it, but I do have some, and many non-romance novels with heavy romantic underpinnings."

"Let's stick with romance and young adult for now, VARA," Curt said.

"Okay, here are my offerings." A series of novel covers appeared on the screen.

After a while, she made an excellent - if somewhat outdated - selection, _Paper Towns _by John Green. It was a favorite of Curt's. He reached forward and grabbed the picture of the cover off the screen, pulling it out and handing Jinora a physical copy.

She was hesitant to take it. What magic was this?

"It won't hurt you," Curt told her, chuckling. "Good choice, by the way. I love this book."

"Thank you," she nodded and ran off.

Curt laughed. Maybe he shouldn't have thrown her into his world's tech so rapidly. But, at the same time, he didn't know any other way to get her a book from his world.

"Thanks VARA. How's your battery looking after that?"

"Rather depleted. It will take some time for the reactor to recuperate it. It takes a lot of energy to make even the littlest matter."

"I know. I'll find something you can convert to energy shortly. Until then, standby, please."

The display disappeared and the phone's screen went blank. He pocketed it until he could find something to give VARA for energy. He put his utility belt on, checking the pistol over, re-holstering it. He might need it, and he guessed that he could walk around with it on pretty freely; no one on this world seemed to know what a gun was.

That said, he stepped out the door, closing it behind him. He was faced with a long white hallway that was just as bland as the room he was staying in. It was lined with doors that no doubt lead to rooms identical to his own. He walked to the end with a door and exited directly outside.

He walked around the complex a bit before he spotted Tenzin, who seemed to spot him at about the same time.

"Curt, there you are. We're about to serve breakfast if you want it."

"I can always eat, sir," Curt grinned and followed him to the island's equivalent of a mess hall.

It was a simple enough area. They ate in typical Eastern fashion; legs crossed, tables almost to the ground. He sat at a table with Korra and Tenzin.

He looked at his plate, "So, I take it you fellas are vegetarians?"

"Yes, all airbenders and air acolytes are," Tenzin provided.

"For the record, I'm an involuntary vegetarian," Korra said, raising a hand.

Curt looked at her confusedly.

"While the Avatar is learning airbending, she is partaking in all of our traditions and teachings. I'm hoping they will sink in."

"You're going to have to explain the whole Avatar thing to me. And bending."

The rest of lunch was occupied with them explaining it. Curt shoveled some parts of his lunch over the table to VARA. _Two birds, one stone, _he thought with a mental chuckle.

"So, I assume that you're going to train me along with Korra?"

"That would be correct," Tenzin answered with a nod.

"Only one condition," Curt said, pointing a set of chopsticks at Tenzin.

"Okay?"

"I'm not wearing those," he said with a gesture at the red and orange robes.

Korra practically choked herself laughing.

Tenzin wiped a piece of lettuce that had flown from Korra's mouth off the side of his face with a napkin. He then sighed, "I suppose I can tolerate that."

Curt nodded, smiled. "When do we begin?"

"As soon as you finish."

Curt scarfed the... Whatever the hell it was... down. He'd hand it to the Air people; it was better than military gruel, and it didn't even have meat.

Next was meditation, which was painful for Curt, who was used to always moving, always fighting. Of course, it was nice to just _think. _Of course, that wasn't the objective of meditation. You were supposed to let your mind go blank, _free_, Tenzin said. Being stranded on a strange world, cut off from everyone he'd ever known or loved, without knowing how to get home, Curt wasn't apt to waste time he could be using to think; try and sort it out.

What had caused the portal to malfunction? There was no hardware on his end; the fault had to be back at Cheyenne. There could be any number of causes. The question that remained was simple: was it repairable?

VARA beeped in his pocket. Tenzin opened his eyes, seemed very angry.

"Curt, no distractions while meditating."

Curt sat the phone on the ground in front of him. "Trust me, this is important."

The screen appeared in front of them. VARA spoke up, "A call from Cheyenne. It's incredibly unstable."

Major Thomas' face appeared on the screen. There was a lot of static. "Curt!"

Suddenly, all the children, in addition to Korra and Tenzin, were crowded behind him. "Major! I'm safe, but, man, you're a sight for sore eyes!"

"Son, I don't have much time. The techs tell me the connection is incredibly unstable."

"So I've been told."

"Look, I'll be frank. We can't get you back, son. I mean, there's a chance. But I'm told that there's a 96.5% chance it'll collapse if you try to go through. That's what the simulations are telling us."

"No... No..."

"I'm sorry, sooouun." The picture and voice distorted. It came back after a second. "You can record a message, if you want."

He only had two messages. "Mom, dad, I love you. I'm sorry. You told me this would happen. I didn't listen to you. Forgive me.

"Sarah, baby, I'm sorry. I know you were always scared I'd never come home. I won't be. Not this time. I know we'd just gotten married. I know... God, I'm sorry... Forgive me." Tears now ran down his face.

"I'll make sure they get to the right people son. The techs tell me that we might be able to get some stuff through before the portal collapses. We're sending what is, more or less, a care package, through. It looks like you're well taken care of, but it should keep you in good health for a long time. You'll be... be... be... you'll be... missed... miss..."

The display went blank.

"The connection failed. I cannot reestablish it," VARA provided.

Curt pressed the lock button. The screen vanished.

He sat there, legs crossed Indian-style, and cried.

More bald men in those robes, but without arrow tattoos, appeared. "Tenzin, something is happening! This blue thing appeared in the courtyard and it spat out this monster. It isn't moving, it's just sitting there, beeping."

"It's not a monster, idiot," Curt said sourly through his silent tears. He wiped his face, stood up, "It's from my world. Show me."

Sitting in the middle of the courtyard was a remote controlled transport, a mule, as they were affectionately called. On the back of it was a lot of stuff. Curt started to sort through it.

"What is all this?" Korra asked.

Curt held up some ABUs, "Air Battle Uniforms, in forest, desert and urban patterns." He indicated the respective patterns. He moved on, "These are flight suits. Standard issue boots, both black and tan versions. Two microreactors. A paintball reactor clip for my long gun. My tablet and desktop from my quarters. Some random holodisks. Some more weapons; a carbon nanotube sword, a second M6A3, the full-size version, not the compact special forces version I have. A prototype pistol using reactor and holographics technologies, some clips for it. These are rare and expensive. I guess the thought is, _If we have to leave a man behind, we'll take care of him. _Something, I suppose..." He trailed off. "This is a picture disk. Our wedding album." He wiped away tears, activated the disk. Above it, a picture of Sarah in her wedding dress, beautiful, beaming. Latched to her arm was Curt in a Tuxedo he recalled only as itchy, terribly uncomfortable and hot. Sarah had told him that he needed to wear them more often. He swiped at the photo with his finger. She was throwing the bouquet. Swiped again. Their wedding kiss. Then just her, beautiful as ever. He wiped more tears.

"She was beautiful," Korra said, sat a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, she was." He fought off more sobs, decided he'd save his sorrow for another time, deactivated the disk, pocketed it, pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Vara, can you take control of that mule?"

"Yes."

"Steer it to my room, if you would."

"On its way."

The mule started to move, first slowly and then more rapidly. The people around it ran like startled animals. They didn't know what it was and they didn't like it. Curt didn't do anything to curb their fear.

"I'll worry about that later," Curt said to Tenzin, who stood there dumbstruck. "Back to training."

Tenzin lead them to some kind of contraption. As it turned out, it was a system of rotating gates. Jinora demonstrated moving through it with some ease. Curt smiled, he could handle this.

But Tenzin put Korra up first. She failed, miserably.

After three tries, Tenzin told Korra to stop and let Curt try. He approached them. Examined them. The gates rotated quickly, but their blades' paths didn't intersect each other. It wasn't a matter of discovering a pattern or avoiding certain areas, merely staying in front of the gate behind you. If you did that, you'd make it out okay. If one hit you, though, you weren't apt to recover, he guessed.

Curt jumped into it when he saw an opening. He felt the air current behind him from the gate beside him. He moved over, into the path of another gate. He had to roll around that one, follow its axis and made his way into the path of another. He mistimed it. It smacked him, knocked him into another gate, which then spun him around and slung him effectively out.

He stood up, dusted himself off. "You mistime one, you're done," he muttered, half to Korra, half as a mental note to himself. After that astute observation, he threaded through the spinning gates with ease, his senses enhanced by years of refining his reflexes. But he noticed something else. He was controlling some of the air currents, in addition to sensing them.

Tenzin latched onto that and, before long, had Curt controlling air currents and even throwing bursts of air. As it turned out, it was like moving your arm. You didn't think about it, you just... _did_ it. Tenzin, and, well, everyone involved, was amazed by his progress (though Tenzin was upset that he wouldn't be more cautious about it; something about having too much firebender in him). He was doing especially well compared to Korra, who couldn't seem to do airbend at all.

That night, he was setting up his desktop, which, despite being only two foot cubed, was a power hog. He was just finishing hooking it up to the microreactor when Korra appeared in the window.

"What the heck are you doing?" he whispered to her.

"They very much dislike girls going on the guys side, but I think you can use the company."

He sighed, "Yeah, I guess I can. Come in."

She climbed through the window. He continued with hooking the desktop up.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Hold on." He connected the final wire, closed the cover. Pressed the power button. A display appeared on the wall. The other wall. All of the room's walls became displays. Speakers appeared on the desk, the walls, on top of the wardrobe. It was set to make the displays and sound system the most efficient for the room.

"Soundproofing, please, VARA?"

"Done."

"Thank you." he turned to Korra. "Now, then, does that answer your question?"

"It really raises more than it answers."

"Yeah, I figured it might. Sorry... You'll figure it out eventually. I think letting you figure it out will be better than trying to explain it."

She nodded. "You okay?"

"Yeah, trying not to think about it, honestly."

"I can understand. Look, Tenzin won't let me even read about pro-bending. I was going to sneak over to the arena. You want to join me?"

"Sure."

They snuck past the White Lotus guards. Children's play compared to some of the complexes Curt had made it into (and out of). Korra held her breath as they swam, he airbent a bubble around his mouth (it was as simple as making it a higher pressure than the water). Enough for one or two breaths, which was all he needed. Korra used waterbending to launch them into a high window. They came out in an ornate hallway. Korra, after waterbending both of them dry, walked directly ahead, into something resembling a gym. Curt leaned up against the outside wall and took on his usual role, which is to say, observing.

An old man, the gym manager, it seemed, took some offense to "Kids sneaking in without paying."

A boy in simple green and brown clothes swooped in from the hallway Curt stood in, not even seeming to notice the old soldier in his tan fatigues.

"It's okay-" he missed the name "-she's with me."

Some hilarity ensued over what "with" meant.

At any rate, it seemed to deter the gym manager as they walked out, both playing along quite well.

"You can sit with me," the boy said as they walked out, "I've got the best seats in the house..." he spotted Curt, "He with you?"

Curt cut Korra off, "We've already proved how dangerous _with _can be, but I'm _here_ with her. No more, no less. I'll find my own seats. Don't worry about it." He grinned, "y'all have fun," walked down the hallway in the opposite direction. In front of the seats was a man checking tickets. Curt reached into his pocket, clicked the unlock button on his phone, which he'd charged off the microreactor. "VARA, some help with the tickets?"

"Check your pocket."

"VARA, ABU pants have six pockets."

"The one I'm in." Was it him, or did she sound frustrated with him?

Curt extracted a ticket, presented it to the man and took his seat.

In the seat beside him was a young lady, well, probably just a few years younger than Curt, dressed in a simplistic brown dress. She was pretty, Curt supposed. He waved, smiled, sat down.

She examined him for a second. Her eyes lingered on his digital camouflage pants. He supposed that they were probably rather odd for this world.

She seemed to shrug this off and focus on other things, broke the ice, "No popcorn?"

"No, didn't want any."

"Didn't want any or didn't want to pay for any?"

He shrugged, "Fair enough."

She tipped her massive bag toward him, "I'm not going to eat all this."

He took a handful, thanked her and ate it. It was good popcorn, Curt supposed. It'd been awhile since he'd had any... Since he saw a movie with Sarah. That was a painful memory, if ever there was one. He shoved it to the back of his mind. No sense living in the past. The memory still hurt. He refused any more popcorn after that.

The match started then. Curt was impressed. He'd learned what bending was from Korra and Tenzin. Seen very little of it in practice. As it turned out, it was _very_ impressive. It seemed almost designed for fighting. Used as a sport, it almost seemed limited in some way. Probably like how boxing compared with actual hand-to-hand combat. Curt had been in both, and the real deal was definitely _rougher_.

The Fire Ferrets effectively mopped the floor with the other teams after one team member, Mako, made an incredibly impressive recovery. Mako was a firebender, but he didn't seem to be overly enthusiastic, as Tenzin always seemed to portray them. He dodged attacks and rolled with punches just as well as any fighter Curt had ever seen.

"You look like you've never seen a match before," the lady beside him said as the match concluded.

"No, actually."

"What'd you think?"

"I'll be here again. I'm impressed. I've never seen bending like that." It wasn't a lie. Other than Tenzin's (and his own) bending and a bit of waterbending by Korra, it was the only bending he'd ever seen.

"Well, when you come again, tell me. I'll be sure you get popcorn," she grinned.

He laughed. She handed him a card with a four-digit number. Her telephone number, no doubt.

"I'll be sure to," he said, got up. Walked out. He had to find Korra, after all. He guessed she'd be in the gym.

Curt found it again easily enough. His sense of direction was still good, it seemed. Sure as the world, Korra stood there practicing earthbending with Bolin, the Fire Ferret's earthbending component.

Curt leaned against the inside of the door frame, watched. The two seemed captivated enough not to notice him. Bolin had just finished complimenting her on throwing a earthbending combo.

"What are you doing here, old man?" a male voice asked. Curt figured the question was directed at him. Curt turned his head to the right to find that Mako, the Fire Ferret's firebender, was the source of the voice.

"I'm not old, first of all. Second, I'm here with the Avatar. I think I've a right to be here if she does."

"That true, Korra?" the boy asked.

"Yeah. Bolin, Mako, meet Curt, the world's newest airbender," she answered.

"You're an airbender?" Mako asked doubtfully.

"Not a great one, but yes," Curt said flatly with a shrug.

"Impossible. The only airbenders are the descendants of Avatar Aang. You're not any of his descendants."

"No, but I have air chi. Don't believe me? Feel that breeze."

Curt gently pulled air into the room, a little faster, a little more.

"That's just the wind."

"Oh, ye of little faith," Curt muttered, funneled the air between his hands, making it a small gale in Mako's face. It messed his hair up a bit.

"Okay. So you're an airbender. Look, you guys, it's getting late, I'm going to turn in." He motioned to Korra and Bolin, "You kids have fun." He looked to Curt, "Good to meet you, airbender," to Korra, "and you, Avatar Korra."

"Yeah, been a _real _pleasure," Korra retorted with seething sarcasm.

"See you upstairs bro," Mako said to Bolin as he waved to him and walked up the stairs.

Korra expressed some envy at their living in the arena. They practiced some more. Curt watched. They left, returned to the island. Curt slept soundly, much to his surprise. With everything he'd taken in that day, he'd expected to sleep rather restlessly, if at all. He supposed he was still recovering from his injuries.

The next morning, they ate a vegetarian breakfast, meditated. Then was the gates thing again. Curt went first, navigated through the gates with ease.

Korra prepared to charge them. Curt saw what was about to happen well before Korra firebent the gates into oblivion. She was running on little sleep. That and he'd already observed that she had little (make that no) patience.

Tenzin was more upset than Curt had seen him. Tenzin wasn't the kind that got easily frazzled. When he did, however, he seemed to be thoroughly so. Not that Curt could blame him. Apparently, the gates were something approaching two thousand years old. Curt decided that he would help them restore it using holographics. Before anything else, however, Curt put out the fire with a strong gust of air; removed the fire's oxygen.

There was a heated exchange between Korra and Tezin. Korra stormed off. Meelo threw wreckage around, imitating Korra.

The girls hugged Tenzin. Curt sat a calming hand on his shoulder, then went to follow Korra.

He found her with some kind of unearthly cross of a polar bear and a dog.

"You shouldn't be so hard on Tenzin," he said cooly.

She jumped a bit. Curt had forgotten how stealthy he could be.

"And why not?" she practically shouted at him.

"First off, there is literally no reason on Earth to be mad at me," Curt said with a blank glance and crossed arms. He waited for her to acknowledge that with a slight nod and a nearly silent "sorry."

"Now, then, Tenzin is trying his best to teach you. All you did was burn down his historical relic."

"Yeah," she muttered, scratching the back of her head, "That was kinda stupid."

He glanced blankly, "'Kinda' doesn't even begin... But I'll let you off with it. Look, just try and keep your mind more open, that's all I ask."

He turned, walked towards the mess hall. Enough mediating with her.

He walked in to Tenzin talking to a very pregnant woman also dressed in those orange and red robes. He was expressing his discontent with Korra to said pregnant woman.

"Give her time," Curt said as he grabbed a seat.

"Curt, you realize how patient I've been with her, right? She just dest..."

Curt interrupted, "Destroyed a two-thousand old relic, I'm aware. Think about how much patience you have, Tenzin. She has almost none and she's been going through the same things as you, on top of feelings of inadequacy and failure." He pointed a chopstick at Tenzin, "There's something missing here, be it your teachings or her shortcomings. I'd bet the problem lies in the combination."

With most people, Curt would have spent hours explaining that the teaching styles were incompatible with the learning and the personalities of the teacher and student clashed, and so on and so forth. Tenzin merely nodded ponderingly and turned to his daughters, pleading, "You must promise me your teenage years won't be like this!"

Jinora barely looked up from _Paper Towns _as she emotionlessly returned, "I will make no such promises."

Curt restrained laughter and left the mess hall after eating, located Korra.

"Going to the match tonight?" he asked when he'd assured himself they were alone.

"Of course."

"I'll be there," he said with somewhat mixed feelings.

He immediately found the island's one telephone and dialed the number he'd been given the previous night.

"Hello?" a familiar female voice answered.

"Hoping you recognize my voice, you coming to the arena tonight?"

"Why of course."

Curt then had to locate the island's wash facilities and made use of them, exiting in a tan fatigue shirt and green ABU pants. A tad of body spray didn't hurt, either. He holstered the holographic-utilizing pistol and replaced the M9 clips on his belt with ones for the prototype pistol. It would come in handy a whole lot more than the M9 if he managed to get himself into trouble.

They made their way back to the arena in the same manner as they had the previous night. They split up in the same manner as they had the previous night, though Curt made sure that VARA got him a ticket a little bit before the gate this time.

He located the same lady, who was in a simplistic dress similar to the one she'd worn to the previous match, but with a bit of green trim and a coin-like emblem. She had a rather large bag of popcorn, which she tipped to him the instant he sat down.

They made small talk, where Curt found himself BSing far more than he should have, and avoiding more questions than he wanted to. He didn't want to reveal too much about who he was, where he was from, or the fact that he was an airbender just yet.

He was just avoiding the question of where he lived when the teams came out, "Well, on the outskirts of the ci... _Korra?"_


End file.
